God says, “Feed the hungry and help others in need.” How I do I know they are using the money I give to help their need and not to feed their addictio

Hey Sarah and Tally this John Lee I hope I can answer this question for you. You are right when you say that God wants us to feed the hungry and help others in need. All throughout the Bible there are very explicit instructions on how we are to treat the poor. Here is one account that is very poignant.

Deuteronomy 15:7-11

7 If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. 8 Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs. 9 Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: "The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near," so that you do not show ill will toward your needy brother and give him nothing. He may then appeal to the LORD against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. 10 Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. 11 There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.

God said that we will always have the poor with us and it is true, as you look around and see the number of homeless people in our area. Not just homeless, but there are many that just find it difficult to make ends-meat. It is a responsibility of ours, and a command from God, to take care of the needy; if we don’t there will be stiff penalties.

Proverbs 21:13

If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.

I’m going to be honest with you; I find this to be very difficult for me to do at times because you don’t know what people are going to do with the money you give them. What has helped me in the past is finding out what there immediate need is. If it’s food, I will buy them food, if it’s clothes, then buy them clothes. It may take a little more effort and time to do it this way, but I think you minister more to them this way. However, if God is leading you to give them money, do it.

James 2:16
If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?

James 4:17

Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.

Bottom line is, if the Lord is leading you to do something for the poor and needy, do whatever you can to meet that need, just be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit and you will always make the right decision.

If we are to tell people they can come as they are, in light of their open sinful lifestyle, isn’t it hiding something? Even though the Holy Spirit is

Hello Confidential

Your question seems to be
(1) Can a sinner come to Christ in a sinful condition?
(2) And be sincere about coming to Christ? If they do can they truly be saved?
(3) Are we guilty then of sanctioning their sinful ways whatever those sins may be?

Let’s start with can a sinner come to Christ in a sinful condition?

A. Can a sinner come to Christ in a sinful condition?
As I thought about your question four scriptural citations popped into my mind. They are:

The woman at the well
The Apostle Paul
Thief on the cross
The text that begins “While we were yet sinners Christ died for us”.

Behind your question may be the thought, “If a person comes to Christ they must be willing to give up their sin or they are not truly sincere about coming to Christ. And if not they could not truly become saved.”

That’s a good point. Let’s consider it.

1. Is turning from sin a requisite for coming to Christ?
The short answer to that is no. If it was none of us could ever become saved. Speaking to Christians John said:

If we claim to be without sin,
we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us.
----1 John 1:8

It is so easy to see the large sins that “Glare at us in neon lights” and say that person is not sincere. But what about the less glaring sins such as lying, gossiping, a critical spirit, lust, covetousness and things like that?

Suppose our salvation was tied to a person repenting of every and all types of sins do you honestly think anyone would be truly saved? It’s doubtful. After all we are sinners who come to the cross empty handed or we cannot come at all.

a. The woman at the well (John 4:4-26)
You will notice that this woman was in a sinful lifestyle when Christ came to her. Not only did she not cleanse herself of sin but Christ came to her.

If is was a prerequisite that a person have a heart fully conscious of his or her sinful state before they come to Christ then this text would not exist. Because she did not.

Neither did Paul.

b. Christ came to Paul when he hated Christ and Christians (Acts 9:1-16; 22:1-11)
These two passages are among several in which Paul tells that right in the midst of his killing, jailing and persecuting Christian’s Christ Came to him.

If it was a requirement to come to the cross ready to give up sin Paul would not have come to the cross. He hated the cross.

Christ came to him in the midst of his murderous ways.

4) He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him,
"Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
5) "Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked.
"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied
6) "Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
----Acts 9:4-6

c. The thief (s) on the cross (John 23:32-43)

What do we know about these two men who died on crosses with Christ? One on His right and one on His left?

We know only that they were criminals. Until that day neither had shown repentance by any deed. Yet Christ was available to them both.

You may argue that at the last the one thief had a sense of remorse about his sin. That may be so. Often when our mortality smacks us in the face we look at eternity much more carefully. But Christ reached out to him while he was yet a sinner. Not after he had it in his heart to change his ways.

This leads us to the final thought that popped into my mind.

d. Romans 5:8

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.”

2. Conclusion to the original question

“Is turning from sin a requisite for coming to Christ?The answer is no because you can’t adequately do so in the unregenerate state. Also Christ did not seem to follow that prescription in that He came to people who were in the midst of horrible sinning.

B. “Isn’t it wrong to let someone believe they can come to righteousness and still practice homosexuality?”

1. I take it that you are using the sexual sin of active homosexuality as an example of willful sinning. You could as easily have used heterosexual sex outside of marriage, spousal abuse, gluttony or stealing to make the point.

2. When a person comes to Christ we would want to think that at that moment in time their thinking should follow something along these lines:

“Now that I see that GOD exists and that all reality is framed by HIS existence it makes absolute and overwhelming sense to follow HIS ways in everything I think, do and live for”

Observationally and Scripturally wouldn’t you have to admit that is not the case? Has it been that way with you?

If we claim to be without sin,
we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us.
----1 John 1:8

This being true are we to say it is all right to sin in any way because all our sins are paid for and you will go to heaven anyway? Of course not. But for a different reason.

It matters what we do with our lives. The purpose of our lives is not about temporary pleasures that last for a few moments. The purpose of our lives is to do things that bring glory to GOD and last for eternity. (Matt 5:16; 6:19:21; Daniel 12:2-3)

In the same way, let your light shine before men,
that they may see your good deeds
and praise your Father in heaven.
----Matthew 5:16

2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake:
some to everlasting life,
others to shame and everlasting contempt.
3 Those who are wise [a] will shine like the brightness of the heavens,
and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars for ever and ever.
----Daniel 12:2-3

C. “Or am I being sanctimonious?”

Just for fun I looked up the word sanctimonious on line using the Miriam Webster dictionary it defined it as follows, “hypocritically pious or devout.”

I appreciate what you asked about being sanctimonious. It tells me that you are honest and open to straightforward discussion that is Biblically underscored.

You seem to be devout but certainly not a hypocrite.

My hope is that I grasped your question as you meant it to be grasped and the answers were sufficient to shed light on the subject you broached.

Don
Romans 6:15-23

Come just as you are.

Hey Confidential this is John Lee answering your question. We tell people to come as they are so that they can hear the gospel not so that they can continue to sin. Anytime you read about someone who had an encounter with Jesus, He never asked them to change their lifestyle before they could become a believer. However, when someone believed in Christ He would encourage them to “sin no more.” The woman at the well, the woman caught in adultery, Nicodemus, Zaccheus, and even the sinful woman that washed Jesus’ feet are all examples of individuals that came to Jesus just as they were. All of them openly sinned but their lives were changed after them met Christ.

1 John 3:9

No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.

Romans 6:1

1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

I don’t think you are being sanctimonious and I don’t think any of us that are Christ followers would want someone who is seeking to believe that they can come to Christ and continue their sinful lifestyle. The key is for them to be exposed to the gospel and as the Holy Spirit deals with them their lives will change, but without the Holy Spirit they do not have the power to change. So they must come as they are before Christ can make them who he wants them to be.

How Can I be brave

Alexa, Hey this is Todd Breiner here. Hopefully I can help you with your question. The way that you can be brave is to trust in God and depend on him in everything you do in life. He can help you be brave in life. Check out these verses from the Bible and use them to help you when you need to be brave.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 4:5,6

Cast all anxiety on him because he cares for you.

1 Peter 5:7

I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Philippians 4:13

Demonic Music

Hey this is Todd answering your question, I will have to admit that I think this is a hard question to answer but I think that we can be helped by looking at some definitions. The dictionary defines demonic as inspired as if by a demon, indwelling spirit, or genius. So to say that non Christian music is demonic would be wrong. In fact, there are many musicians that are outspoken Christians that do not produce exclusively Christian music. As far as music goes, it is important to be very careful that the music you listen to does not hurt your walk with Jesus. I am reminded of a verse in Matthew that may be helpful in deciding what music to listen to.

If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

Matthew 5:29,30

This verse is teaching that if there is something in our lives that is causing us to sin we need to take whatever measures necessary to get rid of it. With that being said, if the music you listen to causes you to sin or leads you into sin, you should get rid of the music.

If my husband refuses to have sex with me, is he still a good Christian and does God still hear his prayers?

Dear Lonely:

In reference to your question, abstinence within the bounds of marriage is a very personal issue and something that should be in agreement between both spouses and God. You see Paul the apostle specifically addressed this issue in his letter to the Corinthians. Paul states:

The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. (1 Corinthians 7:3-5).

Paul’s statement is self-explanatory. But, I make reference to the one reason that the husband and wife abstain from one another (and only for a time): PRAYER. Communication with our Lord is one of the most important facets in a believer’s life. True devotion to the Lord, prompts continual communication with Him.

Therefore, Paul’s main point was to devote yourselves to the Lord alone, for a specified time, for the purpose of growing closer in godliness. This is very similar to fasting and prayer, and is a sacrifice of love to the Lord for the purpose of godliness. Also, make note that you must both agree on this, as you are one and are seen as one in the eyes of the Lord.

Ms Lonely, if this is not the case with you and your spouse, then I urge you to seek out the reasoning for his abstinence to you. Your question leads me to believe that there is a form of misguided communication between you and your husband. The question you ask is a result of some action or non-action between you and your husband, and herein lays the true dilemma. Though, I cannot speculate, I urge you to seek professional Christian counseling. Also, please keep in mind that you are called to respect your husband as he is called to love you (Ephesians 5:22-33).

Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband. (Ephesians 5:33)

As far as the discussion concerning his witness as a believer in Christ Jesus and his prayers to the Lord, that is a personal issue with God. Though, God says that the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective (James 5:16). I will pray for you. Blessings. Dean.

Should you always pray before you go to bed?

Dear Evelyn:

Prayer is our communication method of talking with God. As I reflect on my personal relationship with my wife and kiddies, I know that I continually strive to spend QUALITY time with them so that we have a vibrant and ongoing personal relationship. And, so it is with God. Prayer is our method of talking with God and communing with Him in a personal way. In the same way that we pray, we should also listen back to see what God is speaking to us. Remember always that a relationship is based on at least two persons and that makes for two-way communication (speaking and listening).

Now, should we always pray before bedtime? The apostles and the patriarchs didn’t only pray at bedtime, they prayed all the time. Paul the apostle commands all believers to “pray continually” in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:17). So then, prayer is simple communing with God because we want to have and keep a vibrant and ongoing personal relationship with our Father in heaven.

As an example of praying in different circumstances, the Old Testament leader Nehemiah prayed all the time. In one instance, he was in the presence of the king and as he was about to speak to the king, he prayed (most likely quietly and to himself) to God.

I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, " Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?" The king said to me, "What is it you want?" Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king, "If it pleases the king… let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it." 2 Nehemiah 2:2ff

Now the good part: God answers our prayers. For Nehemiah, he was granted permission to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls. But please understand that sometimes we may not always get what we want, but remember that God allows us what we need. Blessings to you Evelyn. Keep praying always, and I'll pray along with you. Dean.